B.A.R.
The Browning Automatic Rifle (more formally designated first as the Rifle, Caliber .30, Automatic, Browning, M1918 and later the Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2; and commonly known as the BAR), is a family of automatic rifles (or machine rifles) and light machine guns used by the United States and other countries during the 20th century. General Information It was designed in 1917 by the weapons designer John Browning, primarily as a replacement for (and improvement on) the French-made Chauchat and Hotchkiss M1909. The BAR was originally intended as a light automatic rifle, but spent much of its career in various guises used in the light machine gun role with a bipod. The original M1918 version was and remains the lightest service machine gun to fire the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, though the limited capacity of its standard 20-round magazine tended to hamper its utility as a light machine gun. Service during WWII In the 1930s a Polish variant was licensed and used by the Polish military as an LMG in limited numbers. The Polish variant was produced by Vis and had a pistol grip as well as the original stock. The Polish BAR was chambered in different calibers, notably 7.92 x 57mm for use of surplus German ammunition. In 1940, the final BAR model — the M1918A2 — was introduced. This model did away with the semi-automatic fire option. The rate of fire was adjustable, with a choice between "fast-auto" (500–650 round/min) and "slow-auto" (300–450 round/min). This was accomplished by the use of a highly complicated recoil buffer mechanism that was difficult to clean, and often proved susceptible to damage from moisture and corrosion, often rendering the weapon inoperable. The (unspiked) bipod was now attached to the barrel, a flash hider was added, a rear monopod was hinged to the butt, and the weapon's role was changed to that of a squad light machine gun. Its success in this role was mixed at best, since the BAR's fixed non-replaceable barrel and small magazine capacity greatly limited its utility in comparison to genuine light machineguns such as the Bren or the Japanese Type 96. The bipod and flash hider, being easily removable, were often discarded by troops to save weight and improve the portability of the BAR. In combat, particularly in the Pacific theatre of war, the BAR effectively reverted to its original role as a portable, shoulder-fired automatic rifle. In 1942, a fiberglass buttstock replaced the wood version, and late in the war, a barrel-mounted carrying handle was added. Issued as the heavy fire support for a squad, all men were trained at the basic level how to operate and fire the BAR in case the man carrying it was out of action. While not without its design flaws (a thin-diameter, fixed barrel that quickly overheated, limited magazine capacity, complex field-strip/cleaning procedure, unreliable recoil buffer mechanism, a gas cylinder assembly made of corrosion-prone metals, and many small internal parts), the basic BAR design nevertheless proved itself when kept clean and earned a reputation as being rugged and reliable. It served as a frontline standard weapon from the latter days of World War I through World War II, and used in the Korean War as well. The BAR was also used in the early stages of the Vietnam War, when the U.S. delivered a quantity to the South Vietnamese. Quantities of the BAR remained in use by the Army National Guard up until the mid-1970s. Many nations in NATO and recipients of U.S. foreign aid adopted the BAR and used it into the 1990s. Poland (Browning wz.1928), Belgium (FN M1930) and Sweden (Kulsprutegevär m/21 and m/37) developed and issued BAR variants during the 1930s which had pistol grips and quick-change barrels. Category: Allied Weapons